War Minister Retracts Slur on Jews of Hungary

A virtual retraction by Julius Goemboes, Hungarian minister of war, of his statement that Jews could not be admitted to the Hungarian Order of Heroes, today concluded the debate on this question in parliament where it had given rise to heated denunciations by the Jewish deputies and by the non-Jewish deputies of the Left and Middle parties.

Goemboes admitted that a cabinet officer is not entitled to conduct anti-Jewish agitation. Speaking in parliament, the war minister said he retreated from his previous attitude and declared that his speech at Keckskemeter was his opinion as a private citizen but that he recognized that as a minister he must support the policy of equality for all religions which Chancellor Bethlen maintains.

The minister of war admitted that it was impossible to put into practice racial anti-Semitism because two members of the Bethlen cabinet are not 100 percent Hungarians, since one has a Jewish mother and the other has a Jewish wife. In retribution, M. Goemboes pointed out that the country’s system of national defense, which he now heads, was created by Baron Fejervary, a descendant of Jews.